Submission

Festival Submission Guidelines for the 19th Annual Vancouver Asian Film Festival November 5 – 8, 2015

Download the VAFF19 Open Call Guidelines 2015

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How to Submit
• Open Call Submissions for VAFF19 are accepted between March 15 and May 31, 2015.
• Open Call Submissions can be made through Withoutabox.
• Questions regarding submissions can be emailed to: programming@vaff.org or submissions@vaff.org.

Submission Deadlines
• Early bird deadline: April 30, 2015
• Regular deadline: May 15, 2015
• Final deadline: May 31, 2015 (unless Open Call is officially extended by VAFF)
• Open call submissions received after the Open Call deadline will not be considered for the 2015 festival.
NO EXCEPTIONS.

Entry Fees
• Early bird: $20 (US)
• Regular: $25 (US)
• Late: $35 (US)
• Each film/video submitted must be accompanied by its own entry fee. Open Call submission fees cannot be waived. NO EXCEPTIONS.
• Payment is accepted via credit card through Withoutabox, or by cheque to the VAFF mailing address listed on Withoutabox. Credit card payments through Withoutabox are preferred.

Eligibility

VAFF accepts:
• Independently produced films and videos by Asian North American artists (including Asian-Canadian or Asian-American artists), or
• Films or videos produced in East Asia (including People’s Republic of China [incl. Hong Kong], Macao, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Taiwan), Southeast Asia (including Myanmar [Burma], Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Timor-Leste) or South Asia (including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh), in English or with English subtitles, or
• Films or videos produced internationally where at least one member of the creative team (director, writer or producer/production company) or one of the lead Actor(s)/subjects (if documentary) must self-identify as being of Asian or part-Asian heritage.
• Please specify how your submission meets our eligibility criteria above, in your submission notes/cover letter.
• Films and videos must have been completed no earlier than January 31, 2013. Submissions completed prior to this date will not be considered.
• Acceptable exhibition formats are Blu-ray and DCP. Other exhibition formats, e.g. 16mm, DVD, HDCam, Digibeta, VHS cannot be considered.
• Digital exhibition formats will also be accepted via download sites as H.264 (.MOV or .MP4) files – in either 1080p or 720p resolutions – and with either 24p or 29.97 fps frame rates.
• The applicant must hold the necessary rights for the submission and exhibition of this work. The applicant agrees that if his/her title is selected, that any photographs and/or video submitted to VAFF may be used by the festival or a third party authorized by the festival for the purpose promoting the festival (online, in print and media).

Film Categories
• Accepted film categories (submissions outside these categories will not be considered):
o Narrative (drama, comedy, romance etc.)
o Documentary
o Animation
o Experimental
o Digital/interactive projects (including web shorts/series episodes)

Other Fees
• OPEN CALL SUBMISSION/ENTRY FEES: VAFF does not waive entry fees for Open Call Submissions.
• RENTAL/SCREENING/DISTRIBUTION FEES: As a not-for-profit, VAFF does not pay these fees but instead invests resources in providing the best possible showcase for your work, and promoting your work as widely as possible.
• ARTIST FEES: In fulfillment of its mandate, VAFF is provided with a small amount of public funding for artist fees to independent Asian Canadian artists only.

About the Festival

The Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) is the oldest film festival of its kind in Canada, entering its 19th year in 2015. From its beginnings in 1995 and incorporation in the spring of 1997, VAFF has been an annual visual celebration of the best in film and video from Asian- Canadian, Asian-American and Asian international diaspora filmmakers and videographers.

VAFF is a not-for-profit film festival society committed to supporting both emerging talents and established filmmakers, offering programming from a North American-Asian and Asian diaspora perspective with stories and visuals rarely seen in mainstream media. VAFF offers uniquely relevant storytelling from diverse filmmakers to diverse audience members, achieving our goal of celebrating diversity in film.

Artists
Visiting artists have included Justin Lin, Evan Jackson Leong, Jessica Yu, Tze Chun, Quentin Lee, Michael Kang and Freida Lee Mock, as well as Canadian filmmakers Julia Kwan, Mina Shum, Nilesh Patel, Ann Marie Fleming and Jeff Chiba Stearns.

Awards
Available awards include a juried award for Best Canadian Short (narrative only), presented by the National Film Board of Canada.

Programming/Industry
Programming includes 10–13 film programs incorporating feature length and short films and videos, featuring an Artist/Concept Spotlight, Foreign Spotlight, Canadian/Vancouver Shorts, Q & A sessions, panel discussions, an industry luncheon, industry networking event, and other gala events.

Venue
All screenings for the four-day November festival will take place at the Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas, a multiplex theatre within downtown Vancouver’s historic Chinatown and Gastown districts. Additional screenings/events throughout the year may take place at alternate venues within Vancouver or Metro Vancouver, often in collaboration with partner organizations.

See the submission guidelines for more details

Questions regarding submissions can be emailed to: programming@vaff.org or submissions@vaff.org.

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